Thursday, 11 September 2014

Healthy Veggie Curry

My dad makes some of the most delicious curries in the world.

He used to travel to India a lot with work, and I think he did a few cookery classes when he was out there. Since then, any occasion which involves a big group of people gathering at his house also involves a delicious batch of homemade curry. And by homemade, I mean 100% completely from scratch- no curry pastes in this house!

As such, before going to uni, he wrote me a whole host of curry recipes, which... I promptly lost. To be honest, I'm no Maddhur Jaffrey- I am not interested in recipes which involve ten thousand different spices, six of which you can only get in specialist food stores. I like store cupboard recipes.

I also like healthy recipes. I've been trying to detox a bit this week- no alcohol, limited chocolate, no biscuits (sob), and seven portions of fruit and veg a day. It's making a difference actually- I feel brighter, I'm sleeping better, and my tummy is a lot less bloated.

But when I cut out all the bad stuff, it can make me feel a bit sad- at which point, I want delicious comfort food. Kind of a catch-22, tu ne pense pas?

Enter super healthy veggie curry. Comforting, warming, store cupboard friendly, delicious, and super healthy. What more could you want? It might look a bit faffy but I swear to god- it really ain't. If I can make it in my minuscule kitchen, so can you. And so you should.

Super Healthy Veggie Curry

3cm chunk of ginger, peeled (use a teaspoon)

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Oil

1tsp garam masala

2tsp ground coriander

1tsp ground cumin

Crushed chilli, to taste

1 tin low-fat coconut milk

4 tbsp red lentils

1 tin chickpeas

Half a head of broccoli

Half a bag of spinach (about 100g or so)

Fresh coriander, to garnish

Begin by blitzing your ginger, garlic, onions and half the tin of tomatoes until a smooth paste forms.

In a large pan, heat a drizzle of oil and then gently fry your cumin, garam masala, cumin, and chilli. You should always do this with spices- it stops them from tasting powdery in your finished dish! Then add your tomatoey garlicky paste and bubble up.

Add the other half of your tomatoes, the lentils, and six tablespoons of coconut milk. Then simmer until the lentils are tender, adding more coconut milk as you go until you reach the consistency you like in a curry.

When the lentils are nearly done, add in your chickpeas and broccoli and simmer until the veg is done. Then stir through your spinach until it wilts, sprinkle with fresh coriander, and serve with brown rice and mango chutney.